How to Use Outlook Web Access Web Parts

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Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 will reach end of support on April 11, 2017. To stay supported, you will need to upgrade. For more information, see Resources to help you upgrade your Office 2007 servers and clients.

 

Applies to: Exchange Server 2007, Exchange Server 2007 SP1, Exchange Server 2007 SP2, Exchange Server 2007 SP3

This topic describes Microsoft Office Outlook Web Access Web Parts and explains how to use them to open specific folders. You can use Outlook Web Access Web Parts to specify the mailbox to open, the folder within that mailbox to open, and the content view to use.

Outlook Web Access Web Parts let you access Outlook Web Access content directly from a URL. The URL can be entered into a Web browser or embedded in an application. Generally, Web Parts are not created manually. Instead, they are created programmatically based on selections made in a user interface (UI), or they are embedded directly in an application, such as a Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 page. The code behind the UI then creates the URL. One use for Outlook Web Access Web Parts is to display a user's Inbox or Calendar in an Office SharePoint Server 2007 page.

Note

To use Outlook Web Access Web Parts, both the user's mailbox and the mailbox being opened through a Web Part must be in the same Active Directory forest.

Permissions for Using Outlook Web Access Web Parts

To use Outlook Web Access Web Parts, you must, at a minimum, be delegated "Reviewer" access to the content that you are opening. If you have embedded an Outlook Web Access Web Part that requires authentication into an application, you must pass authentication information through together with the request for the Web Part. One way to do this is by configuring the Outlook Web Access virtual directory to use Integrated Windows authentication. Integrated Windows authentication lets users who have already logged on by using their Active Directory account use Outlook Web Access without having to enter their credentials again.

Outlook Web Access Web Parts Syntax

Exchange 2007 Outlook Web Access has a new URL format to use for requests to the /owa virtual directory. These requests can be made by typing a URL directly into a Web browser or by embedding the URL in a Web application, such as an Office SharePoint Server page.

Outlook Web Access Web Parts can be used to create URLs of varying complexity. A simple Web Part URL can be used to open the Inbox of any mailbox. A more complex Web Part URL could be used to specify the mailbox to open, the folder within that mailbox to open, and the content view to use.

For example, the simple Web Part URL https://<server name>/owa/?cmd=contents will open the Inbox of the mailbox that is determined by the user's logon. The more complex Web Part URL https://<server name>/owa/<SMTP address>/?cmd=contents&f=inbox%2fProjects&view=by%20subject will open the mailbox that is specified by the SMTP address to the subfolder Projects, sorted by subject.

Depending on the security measures that have been applied to your network, you may have to configure encoding for the Web Parts URL. After you configure the encoding, the code behind the UI will create the URL by using the URL-encoded parameters. URL-encoded parameters use %20 in place of spaces and %2f in place of the path delimiter "/". All examples in this topic use encoded parameters.

Supported Microsoft Exchange 2000 and Exchange 2003 Web Parts are automatically translated to Exchange 2007 Web Parts.

Table 1 lists the parameters of a Web Part and examples of how they are used.

Table 1   Web Part parameters and how they are used

URL parameter Description Values and examples

Server name and directory (required)

The URL of the Outlook Web Access virtual directory.

This may be the same URL that users use to log on to Outlook Web Access, for example:

https://<server name>/owa

Exchange 2007 explicit logon mailbox identification (optional)

Any SMTP address that is associated with the mailbox to be opened.

If this section of the URL is missing, the default mailbox of the authenticated user is opened.

If no additional parameters are specified, the default behavior is to open the Inbox.

To open the mailbox with the SMTP address tsmith@fourthcoffee.com, use:

https://<server name>/owa/tsmith@fourthcoffee.com

cmd (required if you are specifying any parameter other than the explicit logon mailbox identification)

?cmd=contents displays the Outlook Web Access Web Part that is specified by the parameters instead of the full Outlook Web Access user interface.

If no mailbox is specified, this parameter follows the server directory:

https://<server name>/owa/?cmd=contents

If a mailbox is specified, this parameter follows the explicit mailbox identification:

https://<server name>/owa/<SMTP address>/?cmd=contents

If no additional parameters are specified, the default behavior is to open the Inbox.

id (optional)

The folder ID of the folder from which the Web Part should display contents. This can be obtained by using Web services and can be used in applications to dynamically select which folder to open.

The folder ID is the Base64-encoded PR_ENTRY_ID of the folder:

https://<server name>/owa/?cmd=contents&id=<PR_ENTRY_ID>

f (optional)

A string that specifies the mailbox folder to be shown in the Web Part. The Web Part URL may have to be written by using URL encoding so that it can pass through firewalls.

When you use URL encoding, a space becomes %20, and a path delimiter (/) becomes %2f.

The folder hierarchy should start from the mailbox root.

This folder path can point to ordinary folders or search folders.

To open the subfolder Projects in the Inbox, use:

https://<server name>/owa/?cmd=contents&f= inbox%2fprojects

module (optional)

This parameter can be used to specify any of the four default folders without knowing the localized name.

Values for the module parameter are not case sensitive, and include the following:

  • Inbox

  • Calendar

  • Contacts

  • Tasks

  • Publicfolders

To open the calendar of a mailbox regardless of localization:

https://<server name>/owa/?cmd=contents&module=calendar

view (optional)

This parameter specifies the view to be displayed for the folder.

The default views when this parameter is not present are as follows:

  • Calendar   Daily

  • Messages   Messages

  • Contacts   Two%20Line

  • Tasks   By%20Due%20Date

Note

The strings for the default views are automatically URL encoded.

The default sort for a view is the way the folder would be sorted if it was opened in the Outlook Web Access client.

Exchange 2003 Web Part views that are not supported in Exchange 2007 are as follows:

  • Contacts   Address card and detailed address card

  • Messages   Unread by conversation topic and sent to.

The strings identifying the views are not localized and not case sensitive.

The views available vary according to the folder type.

Calendar views:

  • Daily   The daily calendar view

  • Weekly   The weekly calendar view

  • Monthly   The monthly calendar view

Message views:

  • Messages   One line message view, with default sort

  • By%20Sender   One line message view sorted by From with sender names that begin with "a" on top

  • By%20Subject   One line message view sorted by Subject with subjects that begin with "a" on top

  • By%20Conversation%20Topic   Conversation View, available only in Outlook Web Access Premium

  • Two%20Line   Two line message view, with default sort, available only in Outlook Web Access Premium

Contact Views:

  • Phone%20List   One line contact view, with default sort

  • Two%20Line   Two line contact view with default sort, available only in Outlook Web Access Premium

Tasks:

  • By%20Due%20Date   One line contact tasks view with default sort

  • By%20Subject   One line contact view sorted by subject, with a on top

https://<server name>/owa/?cmd=contents&f=Calendar&view=Weekly will display the requested calendar in Weekly view.

d, m, y (optional)

Specifies the date for which the calendar should be displayed. These parameters can be entered in any order and can be used singly or together.

If any of these parameters are not specified, the default values are the current day, month, and year values. For example, if the current day is May 3, 2007 and you specify a month value of "9" for September, the date displayed will be September 3, 2007.

The valid values for the data parameters are as follows:

d=[1-31]

m=[1-12]

y=[four digit year]

To open a calendar to the date May 3, 2007, you would use https://<server name>/owa/?cmd=content&f=calendar&view=daily&d=3&m=5&y=2007

part (optional)

Specifies that Outlook Web Access should display a smaller Web Part.

When you use Web Parts to access Outlook Web Access content, the UI that is displayed will be smaller than the full Outlook Web Access UI. The part parameter reduces the UI further. This example shows the tasks list in the smallest Web Part format:

https://<server name>/owa/?cmd=contents&f=tasks&part=1

Figures 1 and 2 show the UI that Outlook Web Access will display with and without part=1 applied to the Tasks Web Part.

Figure 1 shows the Outlook Web Access Tasks Web Part without the parameter part=1.

Figure 1   Web Part URL without Part=1

WebPartWithout1

Figure 2 shows the Outlook Web Access Tasks Web Part with the parameter part=1.

Figure 2   Web Part URL with Part=1

WebPartWith1

You can use multiple parameters to specify the folder to be displayed and the format to display it in. If more than one folder parameter is used, the precedence order is id, f, and then module. If none of these parameters is present, the Inbox will be shown by default.

Note

If a feature has been turned off by using segmentation, that feature will not be available as a Web Part. For example, if the Outlook Web Access calendar has been disabled, you will not be able to access calendars by using Outlook Web Access Web Parts.

Using Outlook Web Access Web Parts Manually

Outlook Web Access Web Parts can be also be entered manually in a Web browser. For example, a user can use an Outlook Web Access Web Part URL to open another user's calendar.

To open a specific calendar in Weekly view:

  1. Open a Web browser window.

  2. Enter the URL for Outlook Web Access and add the following string to the end of the URL: <mailbox SMTP address>/?cmd=contents&f=calendar&view=weekly.

  3. Enter logon credentials, if you are prompted to do this.

For example, if the URL of Outlook Web Access is https://email.fourthcoffee.com/owa, the following URL will open the calendar that belongs to the user tsmith in Weekly view:

https://email.fourthcoffee.com/owa/tsmith@fourthcoffee.com/?cmd=contents\&f=calendar\&view=weekly

To directly access a specific folder in Public Folders, add the string &f=<Foldername> to the URL /owa/?cmd=contents&module=PublicFolders. For example, the full URL to access a specific folder in Public Folders resembles the following:

https://cas.contoso.com/owa/?cmd=contents\&module=PublicFolders\&f=\<FolderName>

For each folder level below this level that you want to access, you must add the string %2f<FolderName>.For example, to access a folder at the next level in the folder hierarchy of Public Folders, the full URL should resemble the following:

https://cas.contoso.com/owa/?cmd=contents\&module=PublicFolders\&f=\<FolderName>%2f<FolderName>

For each folder level that you want to access, add the string %2f<FolderName>. For example, if you want to access a folder that is four levels deep in Public Folders, use an URL that resembles the following:

https://cas.contoso.com/owa/?cmd=contents\&module=PublicFolders\&f=\<FolderName>%2f<FolderName>%2f<FolderName>%2f<FolderName>

For More Information

For more information about Web Parts and how to plan Web pages, see the following:

For more information about Outlook Web Access authentication, see the following: